Widow of hero cleaner killed by burglar tells of her 'truly exceptional' husband

Jailed: Roger Buckingham, inset, and circled, a CCTV still of him leaving the stabbing scene

The widow of murdered have-a-go-hero Piotr Mikiewicz spoke emotionally of a man “who represented everything that is good about decent people prepared to fight for what is right.”

Busie Mikiewicz had been married to her street cleaner husband less than a year before he was stabbed to death by burglar Roger Buckingham.

Quoting the Bible and the “greater love” of a man who lays down his life for his friend, she pointed out that her husband died trying to protect the rights of a stranger.

Mrs Mikiewicz was too ill to see the killer unanimously convicted at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Jailing Buckingham for at least 27 years, the Recorder of London Brian Barker QC had described her husband as “a truly exceptional man.”

In a moving impact statement, Mrs Mikiewicz said: “The Bible says ‘Greater love has no man than this, that he lays down his life for his friends.’

“Piotr had a love greater than the greater love. He did not lay down his life for his friend, he laid down his life for an unknown person.

“This is the kind of man my husband was. Piotr was a unique and special person and he will be sorely missed.”

Hearing a burglar alarm on his rounds in Shepherds Bush, the cleaner had tried to tackle Buckingham with a broom as he left a house he had just burgled.

The killer thrust a knife into his heart and ran off leaving him dying in the street last August.

Mrs Mikiewicz went on: “He was a very brave and selfless man who wasn’t frightened to stand up for what he believed was right.

“Piotr did not look at the colour, nationality or gender of the other person.

“He just considered the humanity of the other person.

”He was someone who represented everything that is good about decent people and was prepared to fight for what was right.

She said her husband had been “a friend to everyone and had a colourful and friendly personality.”

“He had a strong sense of what was right and wrong. He wasn’t just a road sweeper he was part of the community that genuinely cared for him,” she added.

“His act of selfless bravery will have been driven by his immense sense of ‘what is right’ and the need to look after his residents.’

Turning to her own “emotional void” the murder has brought her, she said: “I’m grateful that I met him, that we fell in love, that we married.

“I weep no tears because my husband has died as I believe that he can only be in a better place.

“I do weep that he died trying to be a good person, I weep for the emptiness of the days that stretch before me without someone to care for, I weep for the uncertain future.”

The court heard that Buckingham, 31, was an unemployed £100-a-day crack cocaine and heroin addict with 25 previous convictions for 61 offences dating back to 1997.

Mr Mikiewicz, 40, was born in Poland and had lived in Britain for nine years.

His sister Anna Olszewski told the Standard: “He did what he thought was right. He was like that. He was very kind. We are very grateful to the police for their hard work.”

In a statement issued through the police, she added that her brother had London “close to his heart”. “He met many valuable people and he was fascinated about the history and architecture of London. We miss him terribly for his smile, sense of humour and the goodness that he gave us,” he said.

Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the murder, the international tax specialist who is a partner at Withers Worldwide, said he and his wife were “utterly devastated” by what had happened.

He added at the time: “The most tragic and ridiculous thing is that all they took was one laptop. It’s not valuable at all, it’s an old Dell of mine. They also tried to take my wife’s Mac but dropped it and it smashed. To kill a man for something like that is so sad.. so pathetic.

“I didn’t really know Piotr because he usually comes round when we’re at work, but many of our neighbours knew him and talked to him. He was a regular and a part of the neighbourhood.”

Neither he nor his wife were at home at the time of the incident as they were both working at their respective offices.